The European Football Fans Congress took place in Malmo two weeks ago and board member Sam White represented CAST at the event.
The majority of sessions, workshops, panel discussions and lectures were held at the Eleda Stadion, home of Malmo FF.
Over the last two years Sam has been heavily involved in the Football Supporters Europe (FSE) project - ‘The Future of Football’ (an Erasmus+ Initiative). This worldwide project is aimed at increasing youth participation in football and its democratic structures and has now reached its final stages.
Day One of the Congress began with discussions and updates on the work being done to further professionalise and improve Supporter Liaison Officers (SLOs) across Europe.
SLOs have a vital role not only in fan engagement at clubs but also the day-to-day organisational and operational aspects of any football club's fan base. This continued professionalisation and development across European partners has gone as far as producing university-led courses (and certification) in order to provide a tangible and academic improvement to the SLO role - creating a huge opportunity to remove the skills gap that is apparent across Europe in fan engagement roles. Additionally it was found that many European clubs have multiple SLOs and value them highly whereas the UK tendency is to have it as a low paid and underdeveloped role, often being an entry level role for those fresh out of university.
The day continued with Congress sessions on meaningful fan engagement. This was a popular event and Sam spoke about the upcoming UK Football Governance Act and how fans were almost forcing change by parliament. It was seen as both innovative and bizarre that government would have a powerful and regulatory position over football and the people's game - something that is not popular with our European partners.
This session led directly into the third, on ‘The Tangled Web of Multi Club Ownership (MCO)’. Speaking with people across Europe, it was clear that MCO is hugely unpopular and is causing the very crisis that we have witnessed at Charlton in the past. Most clubs see MCO as a threat to the European competition places and chances, but for smaller clubs it is seen as a threat to their existence as it can force them to be just a feeder club or one to which the ownership model pays very little attention. German Green Party MEP Rasmus Andresen spoke of the European Union needing to do better to increase and improve fair competition across the continent. He argued that power should be given to public authorities and fans rather than the rich minority so that long term conflicts could be sorted out rather than the multiple issues that have cropped up in the short term.
It was overwhelmingly supported that MCO means not only a conflict of interest across the club networks but also brings the wider game and competition into disrepute. As we saw with Charlton under Roland Duchatelet the very soul of a club tends to be neglected in furtherance of network gains rather than individual club success.
The day finished with a visit to the now abandoned and soon-to-be knocked down Malmo Stadion, which stands directly next to Congress location The Eleda Stadion.
This then led to Sam being invited to the Malmo FF Supporterhuset- The Malmo club's supporters' trust official headquarters - which is designed as a meeting place for all supporters, young and old, to bond and develop closer ties together. In addition it functions as a shop selling amazing merchandise as well as offering a basement where young supporters are encouraged to develop and create flags/banners/Tifos and develop their fandom with like-minded young people.
Day Two began with the FSE biennial general meeting with elections and motions to be heard and voted on. After the election result announcement the official European Youth Fan Forum began. Sam spoke to Congress about the challenges of meaningful fan engagement with young fans as well as the difficult challenges of increasing involvement for young fans in both football clubs and supporter groups and direct democratic football organisations. Sam also updated Congress on the work being done within England and Wales via the Football Supporters Association ( FSA). This coincided with Sam's update on the ‘Future of Football’ project, where a toolkit has been in development for both clubs and young individuals to help develop skills and increase participation across football organisations, supporters' trusts and corresponding clubs. This toolkit will be shared with CAST members and Charlton fans when it is officially released in its final form.
A big thank you must go to FSE Colleagues Tony Earnst, Mattia Angelini, Mathias Johansson and Stuart Dykes for their support and engagement in hosting Congress & the various events during the weekend. Thanks must also be given to FSA’s Jess Grundy for her continued support for the work being done across England and Wales, to increase youth participation in football structures.